


Chasing Tail

by silveradept



Category: Final Fantasy I
Genre: (Un?)Usual Euphemisms, Found Family, M/M, Not-Actually-Allegorical Allegories, Self Confidence Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:09:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22202368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept
Summary: Four White Mages are searching for the artifact that Bahamut demanded they get.Wait, no, three of them are. The fourth one isn't sure why everyone else keeps humoring him by letting him tag along when his magic isn't working.
Relationships: White Mage/White Mage/White Mage/White Mage
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5
Collections: Holly Poly 2019





	Chasing Tail

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FireEye](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/gifts).



"Oh, come _on_!" Erin grumbled, ducking around a corner. "They don't have eyes on their backs, so how can they know where we are?"

"They're undead, remember?" Noel replied. "They can't see, but the dark magic animating them probably thinks of us as really bright lightbulbs."

"Would it be too much to ask for them to be surprised for once?" Alex said, swinging their hammer so it smashed one of the zombie bulls right between the eyes, driving it back into its companions. "I'm getting tired from all this running."

"What's so special about this tail, anyway?" Erin groused, caving a slow-moving zombull's face in with his own hammer as it turned the corner.

"Beats me," Alex said, narrowly dodging a charge, "but when the King of the Dragons says to go get it, I don't think we're in any position to say no."

" _It's important_ ," Yuki's voice boomed down the corridor. Fists glowing white and eyes gleaming with divine power, Yuki strode toward the oncoming undead. throwing bolts of holy power into the bodies of the bulls and disintegrating them until none were left.

"Hey, look whose deity finally decided to give a fuck!" Noel teased when Yuki had finished. "Hey, I'm kidding," he added when Yuki's shoulders slumped. "We can always use the help against the undead."

"I know," Yuki said. "But all of you never seem to have trouble when you have to call on your powers."

"It helps that our deities have more followers than yours," Alex pointed out. "Older, too."

"We've also been doing this longer," Erin added. "And Noel's temple-trained, so this is a breeze for him, I'm sure."

"Like hell it is," Noel retorted. "Temple ritual is meant for the middle of a city where you can do things that take hours without anything trying to kill you. Plus, they usually have the prayers written down for you to read, rather than trying to remember them when—" 

Noel frowned and pointed his own glowing fists at a second herd of zombulls that had just charged around the corner. One bright zap later, the entire group of undead bovines became ash on the wind.

"As I was saying," he deadpanned. "It can't be easy for you, being so far away from home and not having a direct channel to the divine."

"You are making it easier," Yuki said. "I can't imagine what it would be like trying to do this alone."

"Four Orbs. Four Warriors of Light. At least on that, the prophecy is clear," Erin interjected. "We do this together, or we're screwed. Hell, the whole planet is screwed."

"Two lit so far," Alex added. "Also, because the idea just came to me, why can't we cut off one of the tails on these zombies and present it back to Bahamut?"

"The bit where they all turn to ash when whatever's animating them leaves, maybe," Noel said. 

"Oh, you're kidding me," Erin said.

"Not really," Noel said, before turning to see what Erin was staring at. "Oh, _come_ on!"

"I don't suppose any of you have any practice fighting dragons, do you?" Yuki said. Everyone else shook their head.

"Run for it!" Alex shouted, and took off down the corridor, Yuki, Erin, and Noel following closely behind. After a few turns, and burning their way through a few more zombies, they listened to see if the dragon was following them, but it didn't appear to have been interested in pursuit.

"No one said aaaaaaaaanything about fighting dragons," Erin said. "Especially not undead ones!"

"At least it's undead," Alex offered. "That gives us an advantage."

"How are everyone's reserves?" Noel asked. "Should we try to get the dragon today or wait until we're more rested?"

"You should go on ahead," Yuki said. "I'm not pulling my weight here. I'll slow you down."

"I am pretty sure _all_ of our gods frown heavily on leaving a Light Warrior to die," Noel said archly. "What's going on?"

"You could probably take that dragon by yourselves if you didn't have to look after me and keep me healed and safe," Yuki said, sitting down. "I'm useless to you."

A lone zombull turned and saw them, lowering its head in anticipation of a charge.

"You know, Yuki, this reminds me of a story," Erin said, unlimbering his hammer and staring the zombull in the eye. "You see, the farm I grew up on —"

"—WHAT?" Alex and Noel shouted.

"Stop interrupting," Erin said, setting his feet. "On this farm, there was a goat. That goat was the two worst things a goat could be: territorial and aggressive. He wasn't too bright, either," Erin added as the zombull charged. Erin swung his hammer and caught the bull squarely on his snout, stopping the charge completely. Stunned, the bull retreated back down the hall before regaining its senses.

"Every time this goat caught sight of me, he would charge at me. Must've thought he could own the place if he could butt me properly." Erin continued, as the zombull charged again. Erin walloped the bull again, driving it back some ways before it came to a halt.

"I smacked that goat with the flat end of whatever tool I had on hand that day, but he couldn't take a hint. He'd back off for a while, but, sure as shit, he'd charge me again." The bull rushed at Erin again, with the same result as before. "Eventually, I figured out that as he saw it, it was him or me, and the only way I could prove him wrong was by putting him out to pasture."

Erin spun the hammer in his hand, facing out the other, more pointed side of the weapon as the bull shook off the latest stunning. When the bull charged again, Erin hit it from above, driving the spike into where the bull's brain would have been. The bull crashed to the ground before disintegrating into fine powder.

"Most fucking stubborn animal I ever met," Erin said. None of the other three were sure whether Erin meant the goat or the bull. "Point is," Erin said, "if you only look at things one way, you're going to keep charging at the problem and getting nowhere."

"You might have a dodgy connection to your deity, Yuki, but you're far from useless," Alex said, picking up the thread. "You made the volcano so much easier for all of us."

"Oh, yeah," Noel added, nodding. "I wasn't looking forward to trying to fireproof my boots to step through the lava flows."

"I don't think any of us were looking forward to it, but watching Twinkletoes float across those stones made me a lot happier about not having to do it at all." Alex grinned.

"I got the idea from watching Yuki dance," Noel said.

Yuki flushed scarlet. "That's not supposed to be seen by anyone," he mumbled.

"Wait," Erin said, turning around. "We've been sharing a tent this entire journey, we bathe together for safety, I'm pretty sure all of us have considered how much protection might be needed if we wanted to perform 'sacred duties' in each other's 'ritual chambers', and you're telling me that you feel embarrassed when someone watches you dance?"

"Yes!" Yuki snapped. "Dance is the connection between humanity and the divine, and is meant for the most sacred of ritual."

Erin turned to Noel. "Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

"No, because unlike you, I think we've just received a clue about why Yuki's magic appears to not work particualrly well," Noel replied, a grin creeping onto his face.

"Hey! That _was_ what I was thinking about, thank you," Erin said.

"Care to enlighten me, because I still don't—ohhhhhhhh," Alex said, comprehension dawning on them with grace.

Yuki looked at each of the other three white mages, still confused.

"You know what?" Alex said, not bothering to hide the glee on their face as they started walking toward the dragon's space again, the rest of the white mages following. "Maybe it would be good if Yuki went out a little on his own to see if he couldn't find his connection."

"I like where this is going," Erin said. "Much easier to find your way when you don't have cute people distracting you from your pure thoughts."

"It's really cute that you still think any of us have pure thoughts," Noel said, snickering. "Maybe if we gave Yuki a wide enough space, he could come to terms with what's bothering him, instead of trying to impress us."

"There looks good," Alex said, pointing at the expansive room before them.

"Oh, and it has some residents, too. Even better." Erin gave Yuki a friendly pat on the shoulder. "We're going to be over here, Yuki, just behind the corner. If you need us, just shout, and we'll come running."

"Wait," Yuki said. "I'm not sure I can handle these by myself."

"Eh, no time like the present to learn how it's done, right?" Alex called before disappearing around the corner.

Noel rolled his eyes at Alex and Erin's cavalier attitude and gripped Yuki's shoulders firmly. "If you need us, Yuki, we'll be here. We'll protect you. But we think you can handle this by yourself." Noel leaned in to whisper in Yuki's ear. "Dance or die, Yuki. Dance or die," he said kindly, and kissed him on the cheek.

Noel released his grip on Yuki and slowly turned to face away from him, walking back toward where the other white mages were. Yuki watched him disappear, and then turned toward the undead gathering on the other side of the room.

The undead didn't notice Yuki, which he counted as a minor blessing unto itself. Yuki was still wrestling with Noel's suggestion. The sacred dances were not to be performed in front of the uninitiated, he heard the priest say in his memory, unless they had performed the proper rituals to be pure in the presence of the divine.

Yuki snuck a glance behind him, but he didn't see any of the other mages. And the creatures in front of him weren't living, he reasoned, so he wouldn't be breaking any vows. And, if it went according to plan, they wouldn't be able to complain about his impropriety anyway.

Yuki examined the room with a new perpsective and nodded. Alex was right. This _was_ a good place. His feet traced out the beginning of the summoning circle, checking for unevenness. Satisfied that the space was suitable and he wouldn't have to worry about injuring himself, Yuki brought himself to the beginning pose and tried to remember the music in the temple when he learned the dance of summoning.

After a short while, he could tell something was working. Unfortunately, so could the undead. Yuki hoped the other white mages would make good on their promise to keep him protected, because once the dance was begun, it would have to be completed, or the energies summoned would channel themselves through whatever was handy, starting with the summoner. Yuki tried to concentrate on the music in his head and the rhythm of his steps, even as the undead began to close in on him. Even in the face of the creatures looking at him like lunch, his training kept him on the steps he had learned long ago, bright flashes appearing where he stepped, the paths he traced glowing brightly. The undead began to surround Yuki, but the circle around him held them back, punishing them for attempting to invade the sacred space Yuki built with each step.

The dragon roared at Yuki as it arrived, spraying the energy of death and decay, attempting to overwhelm the small sacred space with force. Yuki focused his energy and the power of the divine on purifying the space, not just for him, but of all the creatures that threatened him, and with a shout, struck the final step of his ritual. Bright light exploded in all directions, vaporizing all the lesser undead in the room. The dragon looked like it had survived the divine strike for a moment, flesh disintegrated and bone exposed, before it staggered and eventualy collapsed into ash.

"Holy shit," Alex said from behind Yuki. That was the only warning Yuki received before all three other mages enveloped him in a crushing hug.

"You did it," Erin said, smiling.

"How do you feel now?" Noel asked. "Hopefully not useless."

Yuki laughed. "No, not useless. I don't think we're going to have the time for me to be able to use this kind of magic all the time, though."

"That's what we're here for," Erin said, smiling. "We protect each other. Do you think you could do something like that again, but for healing instead of vaporizing the undead?"

"It's possible," Yuki said. "Although I think I'd have to figure out how to translate those spell books in the shops into dances I could perform."

"I think we can work it out," Noel said, motioning for everyone to start making progress toward the goal again. "Might even mean I get to put some of that temple training to use, after all. Did I ever tell you about those starched-robes where I came from?"

"No?" Yuki said, racking his brain to try and remember if he'd heard Noel tell the story before.

"It started when I was an acolyte. If they had known I wouldn't be able to sit still during the meditation sessions, they would have never accepted me," Noel started.

"You told me they didn't have a choice," Alex said, confused.

"They didn't," Noel replied, laughing.

"Oh, it's _that_ story again," Erin said, shaking his head. "And here I thought you were actually going to tell us something new."

"Hush," Noel told him. "Since you already know it, you can keep an eye out for any more dragons."

Erin stuck his tongue out at Noel, but moved to the front of the party.

"As I was saying," Noel continued, "and as you have probably noticed, Yuki, my life has always had a rhythm to it. But when you're supposed to re-enact High Ritual exactly as it is written, tapping your foot to the rhythm of the words, or performing them at a cadence that makes sense, tends to get priests yelling at you."

Yuki laughed. "My feet ache in sympathy for you, as my trainers looked to correct form by striking whatever was out of place."

"Take a look at this," Erin called back to them, pointing around the corner. The party peered down the corridor to a box sitting on a throne.

"That looks like our goal," Alex said.

"Those look like its guardians," Yuki added, pointing at the two undead dragons flanking the throne.

"Well, we know what your responsibility is," Alex said, grinning. 

The four white mages readied themselves for the fight of their life. 

"Okay, everybody," Alex called. "Stay in front of Yuki so he can dance without embarrassment!"

Yuki blushed, but held his tongue. He focused on tracing out the summoning circle with his feet as the other three mages rushed in.

It would be ill-advised, after all, to invoke the divine immediately after committing some form of blasphemy.


End file.
